The San Francisco Chronicle posted a quick review of Doug Chiang's Robata:

Robota (Chronicle; 174 pages; $35) by artist Doug Chiang and award-winning novelist Orson Scott Card mixes text and full-color illustrations to tell the story of a planet ruled by machines.

An amnesiac named Caps awakes within a metallic craft and quickly finds himself pursued through a forest by malevolent robots. Aided by a talking monkey named Rend and Juomes, an intelligent, white-furred gorillalike creature, Caps seeks to discover his own history while aiding other humans in their struggle against their mechanical overlords.

"Robota" sprang from Chiang's long-ago sketches of historical vehicles and futuristic objects. It's one thing to combine a tall sailing ship and a flying saucer in an illustration, but it's another to make that juxtaposition work within a novel. Card, author of "Ender's Game" and "Seventh Son," does his best to find the logic lurking behind Chiang's pictures, but his yeomanly efforts don't quite pan out. Exactly why are those robots wearing robes?

Chiang is best known for his design work on the two latest "Star Wars" films, and "Robota" has strengths and weaknesses similar to those of George Lucas' epic. The gorgeously rendered paintings look really cool. The plot and its shopworn revelations, however, can't match their creative energy.

Thanks to Fufuuu for the alert!